Help families escape the cycle of poverty through the circular economy.

We equip unemployed and aspiring entrepreneurs with the skills and resources they need to unlock their full potential and access the circular economy.

Financial independence

We teach our brand new self-employed small business owners how to earn a decent income, pay off debt and start saving.

Professional development

Through business, finance and life skills training we ignite their entrepreneurial spirit.

Personal growth

Life coaching and counselling unlocks personal agency and confidence in every person that joins our enterprise development programme.

Circular Economy: Environmental impact

Excess merchandise from the retail supply chain is responsibly redirected from landfill and transformed into small business opportunities.

Who we are

Taking Care of Business (TCB) is a nonprofit social enterprise. We are empowering unemployed South Africans and their families to escape the cycle of poverty through small business opportunities, mostly within the circular economy. Our flagship programmes ensure that unwanted fashion and other products are responsibly eliminated from the main market and distributed to secondary ones while protecting the contributing brands, reducing waste and creating self-employment opportunities.

The unemployment and poverty crisis in South Africa is massive. We know that quality education and entrepreneurship (self-employment) are practical pathways to financial and social independence. We believe that with the right support structure and opportunity anyone can become self-employed. That’s why we provide a holistic solution that works with the whole person (head, heart and hands). We equip and support people on their journey with viable business opportunities, access to the economy, resources and capital, training, practical work experience, mentorship and coaching, and deep personal growth. The result? Active, contributing citizens that become role models for others.

We can deliver this holistic model thanks to win-win collaborations with like-minded organisations and South Africa's major retailers who donate their excess stock which helps prevent merchandise from going to landfill.

Our Programmes

Resell

Equipping unemployed mothers to become successful fashion traders within the circular economy.
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Repair

Equipping unemployed South Africans to run appliance repair and trading businesses, reducing e-waste.
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Remake

Equipping seamstresses to run financially viable businesses by rethinking and repurposing fashion waste to drive social procurement.
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Redistribute

Donating merchandise and clothing to nonprofits that support the vulnerable.
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Reskill

Equipping other organisations with the skills and resources to support their participants and employees towards financial and social independence.
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Grow ECD

Equipping preschools to operate as sustainable businesses that deliver quality education in low income communities.
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14 years impacting families for good

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People recruited into our Enterprise Development training programmes

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Items diverted from landfill

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In profits generated by small businesses

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Preschool classrooms   equipped

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Children being educated

Impact Story : Valerie Grootboom

Previously, I was a domestic worker earning R100 a day. I was looking after my mother, my down syndrome brother and my disabled nephew. And life was really tough. When I first joined TCB I started buying bags of damaged clothing to repair and resell. With TCB’s support, my business grew and grew. I now employ someone, I’ve put my son through matric and I am debt free!

Win-win. Become a retail or manufacturing partner!

We partner with a wide range of retail brands and manufacturers through shared value circular economy partnerships. TCB offers retailers, wholesalers and manufacturers a national, cost-effective solution to their fashion, merchandise and e-waste problems. We collect your excess stock from your branch or factory, sort and debrand it, repair and repurpose, and equip local unemployed individuals to buy and sell in second-market communities. Support the circular economy and optimise ecological footprints. Participate in tomorrow’s world by growing the lifecycle of a product and by having a real and sizeable positive impact on the environment.